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Speaker 1: We could be reading We're not Alive on the air,

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Speaker 1: just like we're going to read this one right now. Sorry,

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Speaker 1: hold on tight, we got it for you. Here. It

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Speaker 1: is the Strawberry Letter, all right. Subject Your child is

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Speaker 1: too darn big. Dear Stephen Shirley, I need some advice.

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Speaker 1: I am a thirty year old babysitter at my church's daycare,

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Speaker 1: and I'm really concerned about one child at the daycare

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Speaker 1: because of his weight. The boy is only four years

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Speaker 1: old and the average weight of his age is thirty

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Speaker 1: five to forty pounds. And I know this because I

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Speaker 1: looked it up. It's against the church daycare policy for

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Speaker 1: me to weigh the children, but I'm almost sure this

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Speaker 1: boy weighs at least sixty pounds. This is a big

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Speaker 1: problem for me, so I monitor his food and drinks

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Speaker 1: all day long. The daycare's menu is carefully planned by

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Speaker 1: a nutritionist and we offer very health conscious snacks, so

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Speaker 1: it has to be from what he eats at home.

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Speaker 1: His parents are both on the larger side too. It

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Speaker 1: is obvious that this child isn't used to playing and

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Speaker 1: running around as much as he should, because he gets

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Speaker 1: tired so quickly when he's at recess. He tries to

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Speaker 1: keep up, but he can't and he starts panting and

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Speaker 1: breathing heavily. He has started throwing food back at me

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Speaker 1: and the other babysitter. If we give him something healthy

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Speaker 1: like carrots or apple slices as a snack, he complains

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Speaker 1: of being hungry after lunch, so his mom started sending

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Speaker 1: fruit snacks and other sugar retreats for him to nibble

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Speaker 1: on throughout the day. I try to politely tell his

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Speaker 1: dad that his son demands to eat most of the

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Speaker 1: day and he throws food at us if he doesn't

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Speaker 1: want what we give him. The dad proudly said, that's

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Speaker 1: my boy. He's always had a nice appetite. So how

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Speaker 1: can I revisit this topic without getting the parents upset

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Speaker 1: and without getting into trouble at work. I love kids,

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Speaker 1: and I have three of my own, so this really

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Speaker 1: concerns me. I bet you are going to tell me

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Speaker 1: to mind my own business, Steve, I can't this time.

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Speaker 1: I know I should speak up. Please tell me how

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Speaker 1: to handle this well. First of all, I got to

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Speaker 1: say thank you for caring. I mean, we definitely need

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Speaker 1: more people like you in the world. You definitely have

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Speaker 1: three kids of your own and your babysitter at the church,

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Speaker 1: and you care what's going down at the church. But

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Speaker 1: now you got to know that when you're talking about

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Speaker 1: other people's kids, it's more than likely always going to

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Speaker 1: be a problem. Okay. And so many parents are uneducated

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Speaker 1: when it comes to how harmful the wrong foods can be.

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Speaker 1: I mean, clearly his parents are you said they were

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Speaker 1: on the larger side. His parents are clueless. I also

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Speaker 1: suggest that not only is the baby overweight, he's four

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Speaker 1: years old. This kid is overweight. He needs some discipline.

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Speaker 1: I mean, why is he throwing food back at you?

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Speaker 1: This is a bad kid right here. This is completely

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Speaker 1: unacceptable what he's doing. So I would first get with

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Speaker 1: the nutritionist and set up a meeting with if it's

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Speaker 1: a female, a male, setup a meeting with him or

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Speaker 1: her and the four year old's parents do that immediately.

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Speaker 1: Maybe if the parents hear it from the nutritionists, they

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Speaker 1: will start making better choices at home, maybe because obviously

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Speaker 1: they're not doing that. They're sending him sugary snacks, you know,

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Speaker 1: to school, so he can eat throughout the day. That's

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Speaker 1: not good. No, that's not good. And maybe he throws

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Speaker 1: food at home and he's just a bad, undisciplined kid.

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Speaker 1: So all that needs to be discussed. Then you can

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Speaker 1: have a separate meeting with the parents about his behavior

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Speaker 1: because this is, as I mentioned, totally unacceptable. This kid

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Speaker 1: is four years old. Why is what is he doing?

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Speaker 1: And his relationship with food is crazy already at four.

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Speaker 1: This is his parents' fault. They need to be educated,

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Speaker 1: They need to know the real The father in school

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Speaker 1: saying that's my boy proudly. No, that's not how to

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Speaker 1: handle this. This is definitely a teaching moment in this family,

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Speaker 1: and that's what I suggest you do. Set up a

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Speaker 1: meeting with the nutritionist. You don't want to lose your

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Speaker 1: job over this. Definitely don't want to do that because

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Speaker 1: you could. You want to handle it gingerly. You want

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Speaker 1: to get maybe the administration involved, all of that, Okay,

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Speaker 1: to handle this. Remember this is the four year old kid.

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Speaker 1: This is your job. And these parents sound like they're

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Speaker 1: they're they're not too with it. They just want to

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Speaker 1: do what this kid wants to do. All right, Steve,

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Speaker 1: oh so glad, Well, go forward your child. It's too

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Speaker 1: damn big, it says, darn huh, it's darn big for real,

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Speaker 1: Sure d A r N is darn that our is

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Speaker 1: connected to the uh. She's thirty ye old babysitter at

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Speaker 1: the church day kill. She's concerned about this boy down

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Speaker 1: now because of his weight. Now the boy's foe. And

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Speaker 1: she said the average weight for his age is between

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Speaker 1: thirty five and forty pounds. She said, I noticed because

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Speaker 1: I looked it up. But I'm sure that this boy

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Speaker 1: weighs at least sixty pounds plus. Now you're probably thinking

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Speaker 1: out there, well, forty pounds if he's sixty, that's twenty

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Speaker 1: pounds old weight. Yeah, but he two foot eight though.

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Speaker 1: See you put sixty pounds on two foot eight. See

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Speaker 1: when you're two foot eight and you're sixty pounds, it's

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Speaker 1: a lot of stuff. You look since y'all that church

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Speaker 1: proper up one in real thick bibbles and stand him

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Speaker 1: next to it. So now we got a problem. The

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Speaker 1: Daycarre's menu is planned by nutritionists off a very healthy,

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Speaker 1: conscious snack. So the lady says, got to be what

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Speaker 1: he eat at home we come back, I'll tell you

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Speaker 1: exactly what he eating at the house when he come back,

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Speaker 1: and I'll tell you why he gets so tired, so

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Speaker 1: damn quick at recess. All right, we'll have part two

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Speaker 1: of Steve's response coming up. Ain't that much to recap?

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Speaker 1: Prow you old boy down there at the church where

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Speaker 1: a little over sixty seventy pounds he is standing over

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Speaker 1: there in the corner. Your boy over there, looking like SpongeBob,

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Speaker 1: strong little boy over there, giving them all they want. Now,

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Speaker 1: you don't understand how he don't wait as much because

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Speaker 1: of all the nutrition y'all packing into these very healthy,

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Speaker 1: conscious snacks. Do you say, so, it's got to be

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Speaker 1: from what he eat at home? You damn right, it's

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Speaker 1: what he eat at home. Now you've been in church, lady,

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Speaker 1: you say his parents is both on the larger side too.

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Speaker 1: What do larger side me? Well, let's look at him.

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Speaker 1: He two ft eight, he waved out seven. Ye are here,

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Speaker 1: but I'm just trying to work out which What does

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Speaker 1: she say when she say they're both on the largest right? Right?

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Speaker 1: She says? He tries to keep up, but he can't

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Speaker 1: because he starts panting and breathing heavily. He was just wheezing,

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Speaker 1: that's all. So we went over there and we got him,

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Speaker 1: got his little lass up and then he went over

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Speaker 1: there to the marriage around. He jumped on it and

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Speaker 1: threw all the kids up in the all. So what

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Speaker 1: do we have to do, Hill, I don't know what

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Speaker 1: to tell you. Take him out of the small day

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Speaker 1: kids sitting daycare. Excuse me, take him out of the

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Speaker 1: daycill and put him in the regular Sunday school class

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Speaker 1: with the big kids. Really, yeah, he can't pass for

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Speaker 1: baby no mobile to put him in the junior card

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Speaker 1: class with the eight year olds. Let's put him on

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Speaker 1: over there. He folded double his weight. He didn't double

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Speaker 1: his weight, mikes with double his age. Put him in

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Speaker 1: there with eight year olds. Now here's the other problem.

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Speaker 1: When he's he tries to keep up, but he can't.

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Speaker 1: He starts panting and breathing heavily. He has started throwing

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Speaker 1: food back of me and the other babysitter. If we

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Speaker 1: give him some healthy like carrots or apple slices as

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Speaker 1: a snack, yeah, y'all don't want this. This ain't what

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Speaker 1: I You can't look like this with these cats and

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Speaker 1: apple slices. Y'all ain't got no pie. He complains of

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Speaker 1: being hungry after lunch, so as mom started sending fruit

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Speaker 1: snacks and other sugar retreats for him to nibble on

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Speaker 1: throughout the day. This boy just need a constant shot.

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Speaker 1: I tried to politely tell the dad his son the

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Speaker 1: man to eat most of the day, and he throws

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Speaker 1: food at us if he don't get what they want.

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Speaker 1: And the dad said, as my boy always had nice

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Speaker 1: appetite about So how can I revisit this topic without

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Speaker 1: getting the parents upset and without getting into trouble at work.

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Speaker 1: I love kids, I have three of them own, so

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Speaker 1: this really concerns me. I bet you're gonna tell me

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Speaker 1: to mind my business, Steve. No, I'm not gonna tell

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Speaker 1: you that you should it. But I'm not gonna tell

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Speaker 1: you that. And so I think if he's throwing food

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Speaker 1: at you, whatever food he throw a you, you ought

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Speaker 1: to throw it back. The I t I tackle this

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Speaker 1: little chubby ass and stuff food down and throw What

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Speaker 1: you're gonna do it can't run? You just said he

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Speaker 1: can't run nowhere through it back this. Yeah, ain't trying

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Speaker 1: to set a good example. What you're gonna do? Your

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Speaker 1: thought on me? Maybe you get someone you you stop

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Speaker 1: all the throwing. I think I to get Shirley. What

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Speaker 1: a question would you want to ask me what you

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Speaker 1: want to ask me about this letter? Seriously, I think

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Speaker 1: she should really have a talk with the parents. Do

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Speaker 1: you think she should mention in this to the parents

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Speaker 1: who are having a meeting with Yeah, yeah, yeah, but

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Speaker 1: they're gonna be sitting there looking at it like she

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Speaker 1: craze I have you ain't never talked to that real?

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Speaker 1: What's what's the difference with big press? The same thing.

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Speaker 1: If you ain't there talking about what he eat at

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Speaker 1: the house, they see this fit and not be your business.

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Speaker 1: So because the lady said in the letter, what's tip,

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Speaker 1: they're going to tell the teachers none of your Yeah,

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Speaker 1: because for your son, what's the typical breakfast? Who? He

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Speaker 1: probably eating my head doing the I half a dozen eggs.

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Speaker 1: He's only four. Appetite, he got a nice apptitude. You know,

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Speaker 1: I sit there with him. Sometimes I can't even hang

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Speaker 1: with him. I eat my phone. Y'all got to get

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Speaker 1: on because he's stealing them. Sometimes he eat degree He

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Speaker 1: eat eggs right over my pleak. Don't you know you're

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Speaker 1: feeding him too much? He's only a four year old boy.

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Speaker 1: You're feel growing ball or miss Strawberry. Yes, he is.

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Speaker 1: He's a growing boy. Well, I'm concerned he's he's a

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Speaker 1: bit overweight for his age and side. Well you know,

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Speaker 1: look here now, miss Shirley, that's you really getting into

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Speaker 1: really a touchy area with us. Yeah, I'm discussing weight.

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Speaker 1: You know. We don't see nothing wrong with his weight.

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Speaker 1: Is you thinking it's something wrong with him causing his weight? Well,

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Speaker 1: I looked it up. You looked up what I looked

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Speaker 1: up the average weight for for a boy four years old,

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Speaker 1: and it's thirty five to forty pounds. Your son is

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Speaker 1: uh sixty right at sixth right? Yeah, and he's four Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so I'm yeah, health wise, you know this is not good. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: well you know. Oh I tell you what, Miss Shirley.

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Speaker 1: Did you take that up with my wife? All right, look,

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Speaker 1: we could go. You can email us or instagram us

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Speaker 1: your thoughts on Today's Strawberry Letter at Steve Harvey FM,

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Speaker 1: or you can check out the Strawberry Letter pod cast

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Speaker 1: on demand. Yes, ma'am, you're listening to the Stave Harvey

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Speaker 1: Morning Show